Last Trip To The Farm

 

Tailgate at the Farm

The Co- hosts

With a week full of momentous occasions for the DFT family (baptism of grandson, Mrs. Tailgate’s birthday, Thanksgiving and our anniversary), I was accused of prioritizing Saturday’s tailgate and game over all. The accusations may have some merit to them. Sadly, after going to Notre Dame games at Stanford in Palo Alto (The Farm) for the last 20 years, this past Saturday was my swan song. If you are going to go out, you might as well go out in style. I took that advice, and along with my co-host Irish Mike Iorio (the Italian), we organized our largest and best tailgate to date. We had 70+ people attend this epic event. The menu consisted of tri tip sandwiches, beer brats, sausage bread, charcuterie boards, mac n cheese, cheesy potatoes, all kinds of desserts and snacks, many other tasty morsels, and of course, a wide array of adult beverages. The setting for this soiree took place in the Stanford arboretum under the sunny, blue California skies with temperatures reaching into the 70s. The music blared, the satellite TV broadcasted other games across the country, and tailgate games were played. The only downside was that four hours of tailgating was too short as all were having a great time. The vast majority of fans celebrating in true tailgate fashion throughout the arboretum were Notre Dame fans. This is one of the few times when Stanford comes alive for college football.

#startemyoung

Many of our crew departed for their cozy domiciles after the tailgate, but more than half of us made it into the game. The Irish, as expected, thoroughly dominated the Stanford Cardinals in all aspects of play and won convincingly. Irish QB Jack Coan threw for 345 yards with nine of those completions going to his beast of a tight end Michael Mayer. The stingy Notre Dame defense held Stanford’s offense to 220 yards and two touchdowns. Final tally had Notre Dame on top 45-14. As usual, the Stanford nerd band thoroughly sucked and were booed at their woke attempt at humor during halftime. Worst band and mascot in all of college football bar none. In fact, both are in the Bieber hall of fame.

 

Around the Country - The nation watched as “Mom Pants” Harbaugh and the Wolverines of Michigan shocked the Ohio State Buckeyes by beating them for the first time in nine years. This upset knocked the Buckeyes out of the college football playoffs. Michigan will face Iowa next Saturday for the Big Ten title with a great shot of making the playoffs. In the SEC, Alabama won a four-overtime thriller in the Iron Bowl, defeating in-state rival Auburn. The win secured a spot for the Crimson Tide in the SEC championship against UGA this Saturday. Oklahoma State bested in-state rival Oklahoma in the Bedlam game. In the process, they knocked the Sooners out of playoff contention and improved their own chances. The Cowpokes will play Baylor for the Big 12 honors on Saturday. The Pac-12 final this Friday night in Vegas will match the Ducks against the Utes in a rematch game from two weeks ago when the Ducks were knocked out of their spot in the playoffs. In the ACC, Wake Forest will play Pitt on Saturday for the ACC crown in a battle between two great QBs: Sam Hartman of Wake and Pitt’s Kenny Pickett. Cincinnati remains unbeaten after topping East Carolina. They will face off against Houston on Saturday and try to become the first non-Power Five team to reach the college football playoffs.

Eagle Tailgaters braving the cold at Bawstun College!

 

Bieber - Lincoln Riley. How dare you do the Kevin Durant move and leave the state of Oklahoma for a California team? It’s not just that you are leaving one of the five true, blue blood teams for another (which is Notre Dame's sworn enemy), it’s that you quit on the team some time ago. It became apparent after the benching of Spencer Rattler that you lost focus and drive. Your deal with the Trojans has obviously been in the works for some time as your lack of interest in OU football culminated with an ass kicking at the hands of Baylor and a loss to little brother Okie State in the past three weeks. You could not figure out a simple zone defense in the second half against OSU and gave up a two score lead, letting your team down. Maybe you were butt hurt over having your hand forced in the benching of Rattler. If so, you need to growacet, and be a man … like Mike Gundy who is a man and is now 55! In a time when most people are leaving communist Cali for free states like Oklahoma, you go all contrarian and do the opposite. Well Stinkin Lincoln, I wish you high taxes, long, frustrating commutes in traffic, lack of freedom and Lebron James’s tears upon you. Please find a nice spot in your new Hollyweird mansion for your Bieber hardware. 

Benedict Bieber Riley

Ginger - Goes to all the fans who storm the field in defiance of the six feet apart BS. This past weekend students from Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, and NC State stormed their fields after meaningful wins. Washington State fans stormed their rival Washington's home field after their Apple Cup win. I love to see the field storming as it is an exercise in freedom but also a big part of keeping college football special. In my estimation, this is truly badass and needs a sprinkling of ginger recognition.

Next Up - I was going to wrap it up after last weekend, but I may make my way back to Bezerkeley as Cal hosts USC in a meaningless game Saturday night at 8 p.m. that was postponed a few weeks back. There are several local kids on each team I am interested in supporting.

Late breaking news - Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly announced he is leaving for LSU. I can’t take any more!

Happy Tailgating!